Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies in first social media addiction trial
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives Feb. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles for a landmark trial over whether social media platforms deliberately addict and harm children. (Photo by Ryan Sun/The Associated Press)
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta Platforms Inc., refuted allegations that Instagram manipulates users younger than age 13 during a daylong testimony in the first trial connecting teenage mental health problems and social media.
Zuckerberg was questioned about user addictions to YouTube and Instagram inside a packed Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday by attorney W. Mark Lanier of the Lanier Law Firm in Houston.
Lanier represents the plaintiff, referred to as “K.G.M.,” who said she was able to get an Instagram account at age 9 without age verification prompts on the website and later developed depression and body dysmorphia, according to coverage by Law.com.
Zuckerberg testified that children younger than age 13 are not allowed on Instagram, but he acknowledged that tracking user ages was difficult to manage.
“I generally think that there are a set of people, potentially meaningful number of people, who lie about their age in order to use our services,” Zuckerberg said.
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